


The First Day

by lilbluednacer



Series: Fear of Falling [7]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dance, Ballet, F/M, I’ll probably be writing this series for the rest of my life, I’m back bitches!, and I’m okay with that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28271556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilbluednacer/pseuds/lilbluednacer
Summary: Lydia’s been waiting for what feels like forever for this moment and now it’s here, and she doesn’t want to miss any of it.It’s her first day with the company.
Relationships: Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Fear of Falling [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1148054
Comments: 10
Kudos: 33





	The First Day

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn’t let 2020 end without posting one of these ballet babies up here! I miss you friends, I hope all of you are safe, healthy and taking care of your precious selves. Happy Hollidays everyone! ❤️, Trace

“Okay,” Lydia says, kneeling on the cherry hardwood floor of the small foyer in the apartment, digging through the contents of her new dance bag. “Socks. Slippers. Pointe shoes. Sewing kit. Water bottle. Band-aids, gauze, tape. Makeup bag. Hairspray. Bobby pins” -

“Oh my _god_.” Cora lightly bangs the back of her head against the front door, looking seriously annoyed. “Would you calm the fuck down?”

“I don't want to forget anything,” Lydia says frenetically, making sure her new company ID is in her wallet.

Cora sighs and rolls her eyes up to stare at the fancy scrolling leaf crown molding. “Wallet, phone, keys?”

Lydia blinks up at her. “What?”

“It's this thing Laura taught me, you say it before you leave the house. Wallet, phone, keys, as long as you have those you can always come back for anything else you forgot.” Cora crosses her arms over her chest, car keys dangling from her fingers.

Lydia zips up her bag and stands up, dusting invisible lint off the knees of her leggings. “Where's Malia?”

“Malia!” Cora shouts. “If you're not out here in thirty seconds we're leaving without you!”

“I'm coming!” Malia screeches from the back of the apartment. A few seconds later she rounds the corner from the hallway and literally leaps across the kitchen floor all the way to the foyer, her hair still wet and scraped back from her face in a messy ponytail. “Sorry, sorry, I forgot what it was like to wake up early.”

“Eight isn't that early,” Lydia admonishes gently.

“But company class doesn't start until ten,” Malia whines. 

“We need to warm up first,” Lydia reminds her. “We had a deal, no more slacking, remember?”

“Let’s go, if I don't get some goddamn coffee soon I'm going to lose it.” Cora yanks the front door open and strides out into the small hallway. “Mommy needs her caffeine, you little bitches.”

Malia rolls her eyes at Lydia and follows her cousin out of the apartment. Lydia glances at the burnished silver framed mirror hanging over the black lacquered entryway table one last time and walks out. Cora locks the door and they all walk to the elevator, their shoes silent against the plush ruby red carpeting. Laura's apartment is on the sixth floor at the end of the hallway; there are only two other apartments on this side of their floor, both farther down the hallway past the elevators, which means the privacy they have is unreal, Cora's already planning their first big party.

They go down to the parking garage in the basement of the building, walk across the concrete under fluorescent lightning and get into Cora's Charger. Lydia takes the passenger seat and Malia crawls into the backseat, her head pillowed on her dance bag as she lies sideways and goes right back to sleep. 

Cora stops at the drive-through Starbucks a few blocks away and orders them three almond milk lattes. Lydia takes hers and cradles it in her hands, staring at the fog out the window as they drive deeper into the city. Laura's apartment is in Pacific Heights, a neighborhood Lydia never could have afforded to live in if she was paying her own rent, which just conveniently happens to be only a bit east of the University of San Francisco. She loves this feeling, that she's one young woman among countless others in a city full of smart talented people, like she belongs here. She’s felt so old for so long but now she feels like she's actually an adult, living on her own, on the way to her very first day of her dream job.

There's something new beating in her chest, something that feels like freedom. Like driving down an empty highway with a tank full of gas, windows down, wind in her hair, the future a million beautiful possibilities unfurling in front of her like a red carpet.

Her phone beeps in her bag, when Lydia pulls it out she has a new text from Stiles: _Break a leg today!_

She texts back, _Thank you_ , a smile playing on her lips. Next to her Cora groans and makes a face as she signals right to turn into the parking garage down the block from the Hale Ballet Company Building. “Stop looking so happy, you're making me nauseous.”

Lydia’s grin deepens. “Jealous?”

Cora makes a gagging noise as she whips the steering wheel around to guide the car up the ramp. “Please. You two are disgusting.”

“Stiles is pretty hot, though,” Malia says sleepily from the backseat. 

Lydia shoots Cora a smug look and Cora rolls her eyes at her as she swings into a parking spot. “Maybe I'm just jealous one of us is getting laid.”

Malia groans from the backseat as she stretches and opens the car door. “No shit.”

They grab their bags from the back and wait for Cora to lock the car before crossing over to the elevator and taking it down to street level. Lydia’s phone vibrates again and she stops on the sidewalk to read another text from Stiles.

_You’re going to kill your first day. I love you, Lydia._

She can’t help it, she smiles so hard she feels it in her cheeks as she texts him back, _Love you too, Stiles_. She’s worked hard for that _I love you_ ; he knows what a big deal it is for her, to be able to say it freely, casually type it in a text, murmur it in an ear, lick the words against his lips.

“Lydia?” Malia is bouncing on the balls of her feet, bottom lip a little raw from where she’s been chewing on it. “Ready?”

“Sorry, yeah.” She turns her phone on silent, she already FaceTimed with Allison earlier, right out of bed, Scott in the background as Allison pumped her up for her first company class ever.

It still stings a little, coming here without Allison by her side, but Lydia is learning to accept it. She loves Allison, and Allison is so happy at school, already ditching her new roommate in her dorm in favor of sleeping over at Scott’s tiny one bedroom and registering for ballet as a non-major, just for fun.

She’s happy. And that’s what’s important to Lydia, even more than being together.

Her heart flutters in her chest as she approaches the main entrance of the giant building, painted a crisp white with shining glass front doors, _Hale Ballet Company_ spelled out in big black letters. If she tips her head back Lydia can see the floor to ceiling windows on the second and third floors. She’s going to be up there soon, dancing in that room for Derek Hale, the red carpet of her future brushing up against the toes of her sneakers.

All she has to do is step inside.

“Wait.” Lydia stops and pulls out her phone. “This deserves commemoration.”

“Ugh, fine, but hurry up. I need to foam roll.” Cora takes a sip of her coffee and does a standing quad stretch.

Lydia motions Malia to crowd in next to her, and passes Malia her phone, because she doesn’t have stupidly short limbs and can hold the phone far enough away to get a decent selfie. Malia adjusts her grip and tilts the phone, eyes bright in the sunlight.

“Say, first day of ballet!” Malia crows.

“First day of ballet!” Lydia and Cora repeat, cheeks pressed together as they smile for the camera.

“Cute,” Malia comments, handing the phone back to Lydia for photo approval.

“Definitely,” she agrees.

Cora peek over Lydia’s shoulder. “God, we still look like babies.”

“No,” Lydia disagrees. “We just look excited.”

Cora looks back at the front entrance for a moment, a nostalgic smile playing on her lips. “So this is really it, huh?”

Lydia links her arm through Cora’s. They’ve been through a lot, her and her old nemesis, bonded by competition and bloody toes and tears and sweat. “We’re officially dancers in the company.” 

Malia squeezes Lydia’s hand. “I’m a little scared.”

Lydia squeezes back. “You’ve got this. We’re ready.”

Cora straightens her shoulders and holds one fist out to them, and Lydia has a moment where she’s back in the bathroom with Cora during dress rehearsal for the showcase, _I'm Laura's sister and you're Peter's shiny new girl. Everyone's going to be watching us._

Cora gives them that classic Hale smile, bright eyes, shiny sharp teeth, and Lydia blinks away her old nightmare, the dark wolf with bright eyes, the one used to visit her in her dreams, and once, at Scott’s house, on a night so bad she tries very hard not to think about it.

But the shadow slips off Cora’s face and she’s just Cora again, just a girl, a girl who loves ballet with a passion that matches Lydia’s, a girl who’s beautiful and sharp and hard on the outside, but Lydia knows her well enough know to understand that it’s only to protect Cora’s insides, the fragile orphan, doubly abandoned when Laura died.

Here they are, Peter’s girls, the best of the best, a row of little Lauras, but Derek isn’t Peter, and they aren’t the girls they were last year either.

Cora wiggles her fist at them. “Kick ass?”

“Kick ass,” Lydia declares, and she and Malia smash their knuckles into Cora’s.

“Okay.” Cora takes a deep breath. “This is it. Everyone ready?”

Malia lets out a nervous giggle and Lydia nods, heart in her throat, a little stunned that this is really happening, even after everything she went through to get here. She’s been waiting for what feels like forever for this moment and now it’s here, and she doesn’t want to miss any of it. It’s her first day with the company and she’s going to let herself experience it all, she’s ready, she trusts Derek but more importantly, now she trusts herself.

Cora pulls on the handle of one of the glass doors to hold it open, and the three of them walk inside.


End file.
